Saturday, November 22, 2008

It's Cold....Eat Soup!

Last night I was laying out all my warm layers. I had to wake up at 6:30 this morning and head downtown to work at the Farmer's Market. Every other weekend I help out at a booth that sells fresh fish and goat cheeses (the other weekends Alex helps). The sweet man we help is the fisherman and his wife is the queen of the goat dairy. I love helping them out, plus it's a great part time job. However, the Market is OUTSIDE!!!! And the market is on the river.....Double Brrr! I'm shivering just remembering how cold it was.

I always lay out my clothes for the Farmer's Market ahead of time because my brain doesn't fully work super early in the morning. Max helped modeled some possible outfit choices. He's such a good sport. He posed for a few pics. Does anyone else have a dog that loves to ham it up for the camera? Max loves it!

The Market was cold. I was fully layered: tights, stretch pants, fluffy pants, two pairs of socks, boots, sports bra, tank top, long sleeve shirt, sweater, jacket, ear muffs, hat; I was still a little chilly. I decided I need a face mask to keep my cheeks warm, but they're SO creepy. Mr. Bill, did bring us those pocket heaters. So Warm.... Lot's folks still shopped, so we were pretty busy. Moving around helps keep you warm. Lots of shoppers also brought their dogs, and we always put out water for them to drink, but today it froze!

The cold weather today reminded me that I needed to post a dinner from this past week. Thursday night my friend Alex brought over a frozen quart of her homemade Chicken Posole soup. Yum! She reheated the soup, I made cheesy onion popovers again, and we diced some avocado. (I sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper on my avocado to enhance the flavor)We all LOVED the soup. She made her own chicken broth for the base and the flavor is ten times better!!

Create your own chicken stock:Place the chicken, 1 onion (peeled and quartered), and the celery, and pepper in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Add 12 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the broth, let cool, and remove the meat from the bones, shredding it into bite-size pieces; set aside. Strain the cooking liquid and discard the solids, then pour the liquid back into the pot.

Or, use premade chicken stock, but you will need shredded chicken.

Next:

Coarsely chop the remaining onions. Add the chopped onions, green chiles, and garlic. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, hominy, salt, chili powder, and oregano. Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for 30 minutes.

We ate ours with avocado, but you can also add fresh chopped cilantro, lime, or radishes.

When I made the cheesy onion popover this time, I did shred the cheese instead of inserting cubes. We all decided we like the shredded better.

This recipe clearly freezes very well and reheated in no time!! Enjoy!